Baby killed in RI fire identified
- Font Size:
- Default font size
- Larger font size
Rock Island police were trying to determine Friday where the mother of 10-month-old George Bernauer III was when the SUV he and his brother and sister were sitting in caught fire Thursday afternoon.
The Milan, Ill., boy died in the fire, which was reported at 1:58 p.m. in the parking lot of the Rock Island Kmart, 3840 46th Ave. His siblings escaped.
Rock Island police Capt. Scott Harris said officers were questioning Kmart employees and other witnesses to try to figure out where the child’s mother was when the fire started.
“We’re just obviously concerned that a child was left in the car,” Harris said. “How long were they left in the car? We’re trying to determine where Mom was. Who drove them there and who was responsible for them?”
Harris said police don’t know how long the children were left alone. He said it would be one thing to leave the children unattended for a moment, for example, while buying a paper from a newsstand, and another if they had been left alone for an hour while their parent shopped.
The Rock Island fire marshal was inspecting the SUV to see whether he could determine the cause of the fire Friday afternoon.
Fire Chief Jerry Shirk said the cause of the fire might not be released until Monday or Tuesday at the earliest.
“Car fires are extremely hard to determine,” he said, “especially when there is that much damage.”
Dustin Lemmon can be contacted at
(563) 383-2493 or dlemmon@qctimes.com
del.icio.us
Digg
NewsVine
Fark
reddit() comments
» More Local Stories
Highest Rated Articles from the last 7 Days
- Cheap Airfare
- Compare multiple travel sites. Discount web fares made easy.
- www.LowFares.com
- Holy Grail of eMarketing
- All-in-One Email Marketing Solution 1000s of Big Companies Trust Us.
- www.Lyris.com
- Self Magazine
- Subscribe Now to Get the Latest Fitness, Nutrition & Health Advice.
- www.self.com
- Ads by Yahoo!
